Joseph Burchett

Ah yes, the mighty iPad! Who’d a thought that this magical device would bring so much joy, happiness and innovation in our lives without us even knowing it? Amazing, right!?  After much thought (and contemplating the importance of food) I decided to  purchase one of these bad boys a few days after it launched.  Yup, yup, I’d say being an early adopter paid off.

The big question here is “Where does the iPad fit into my iLife?”. I mean why the heck would you actually need this sexy new piece of hardware?  Is it because Steve Jobs knows what’s best? Or perhaps it’s something we’ve always really needed and never known until now?  Hm, all very interesting questions indeed. Lets break it down and see if we can’t figure this madness out, shall we?

Hardware

I’m not going to get all nuts with hardware stats, so lets just keep it simple and say what it is; a bigger, shinier iPod Touch. There really isn’t a reason to deny what we all know it is. But is that a bad thing?  I mean an iPod Touch is cool, right?  Well, if that’s cool, why wouldn’t an HD version of that device be even better?

The beauty is that you really just hold it however you like and it adjusts to your needs.  The screen’s resolution is crisp and clear and it can be nice and bright when adjusted (same with volume). The battery life is also pretty darn good; that sucker will last for a long time, even with heavy use.

Due to the size and how fragile it is… I don’t know how practical it is for outside use.  The screen does not do well at all outside and when the sun hits it you’re pretty much screwed. I’d say this device really is all about the inside use.  It doesn’t have a USB port, or anything nifty like that, outside of what Apple supplies.  But really, considering the type of device it is…  I honestly don’t think you’ll need a USB port. You may think you do at first, but you don’t.

Currently there are two models; one with wifi (the cheapest) and another with the 3G plan.  I chose the one just for wifi, considering I really only use it at home or places that have wifi.

The biggest complaint I have heard so far is the lack of a camera, which is a legit argument, but knowing Apple they’ll release another cheaper version a few months down the road with more features (A nice little slap in the face to early adopters! Booyah!).

Software

The iPad is all about media consumption, not creation! Although there is software you can download and use to create things  it’s really about taking it all in.  It’s got plenty of apps, music and videos from the iPod Touch/iPhone and now specially made media that supports the larger screen of the iPad (super sexy!).  A lot of old apps for the iPod Touch were not meant to be blown up on the iPad (some apps look down right terrible).  But when you do get apps that are made just for this device they look really, really amazing!

Another big feature that Apple was talking about when they came out with this device was being able to use it as an E-Book reader, like Amazon’s Kindle. Ha!  Their book selection is poor, at least for my taste. I enjoy indie graphic novels, tech books and other random stuff, which the store seems to be lacking severely in. The application I actually use to get quality books is not Apple’s book application (iBooks) but the free Kindle application from Amazon.

Flash, HTML5, blah, blah…

Browsing on the device is smooth and very natural.  Even with the virtual keyboard I haven’t had a problem at all with finding my way around things. The iPod Touch’s screen was a bit clunky, but the extra space the iPad provides really simplifies everything.

Now there has, of course, been a lot of talk (and more then enough articles out there for you to read on the topic) about Flash not being supported on the iPad, and how Steve jobs has a serious love for HTML5, so I won’t re-hash it all here. All I will say is: honestly, who needs it? All of the browsing I’ve done with this device has just been for simple media, nothing insane that would require Flash. Simple, casual stuff, which I think this device is perfect for.

“But, Joe, I want to play Facebook games and so many sites I visit every day use Flash!”

If you really wanted to play those games then chances are you already spend more time in front of your time in front of the computer then on the go with your mobile device. While it is true that there are a ton of sites that use Flash for ads and such, they could always be done in HTML. Whatever you need that badly in Flash I am pretty sure “there’s an app for it”.

Sure, the stuff I am saying is both blasphemous and very much flame worthy, but I will be honest: I hate doing AJAX stuff with a passion.  I find it to be verbose, time consuming and just not fun.I’ll just make an app for whatever I need the user to use. There are alternatives outside of Apple’s stone age toolset that will allow you to develop for the iPad. I really think people are making a big deal out of nothing with all of this…

Games

Well, ladies and gentlemen, I must say, the games are all kinds of sweetness!  The device is absolutely perfect as a gaming device. It really, really is. Although a lot of time you will see an older version of a game with an “HD” label slapped at the end of it and then you will be charged three times as much.

The type of games this device is perfect for are the ones that doesn’t really require a lot of user feedback via controls.  So like strategy games, board games, card games, or anything else that doesn’t really need you to use some sort of game pad.  For those type of games (both casual and hardcore) it works out really well.  God Finger, Zen Bound 2, Plants vs Zombies, Real Raching HD,  are a few games that I am pretty much hooked on.

Okay,  seriously…  Why do I need this thing again?

Ha, well I can’t blame people for still wondering where this product actually fits in, I mean it’s not really a laptop, but it’s not really an iPod, it’s like some weird inbetween.  Although there are some places I do feel this device does fit in pretty nicely… For taking notes in class, quickly showing off some video, just relaxing on the couch while you do some quick gaming or browsing.  In all honesty I don’t think people really need this device, it’s just a luxury.  The best way to really think about the iPad is like going from an standard defenition T.V. to a high definition T.V. it’s something you really don’t need, but damn do you want it.

Shut up you Apple fanboy,  Android is the future!

Yes I do have Apple products and yes even after all the madness that has happen I will continue to develop for Apple products because that is where the customers are.  No matter what the developer community thinks about what is happening it’s still reality that a large number of consumers use Itunes and own iPod, iPhone or possibly an iPad.  And as much as we will complain and whine about how about what Apple is pretty wrong, many people tend to forget that many developers have families to support, hungry mouths to be feed and bills that need to be paid.  But with that said I am very much a lover of Android platform, Google is very open, perhaps a little to open!  But I will happily develop for that platform and will most likely buy the Android tablet when it comes out.  I will use all tech that supports developers with open arms, and even ones that are closed if that is where the money is…  Sure I sound like a sell-out, but this sellout will surely not be living in a box with a sign saying “will code for food”.

Just so everyone knows all of my thoughts are my own opinions on the matter and based on how I prefer to use my devices…  Many of you I would imagine would not agree on my stance with “flash on the idevices” (especially other flash game devs who want their games with ads in them seen by all!).  I don’t hate you guys, it’s just personally I don’t need it, that’s all

Well I am sure there is plenty more I could say about this device but really all I have said is plenty, as usual Apple is trying to change the game for better or worst with this magical device, will it really be the success the the iPod and iPhone were?  Only time will tell.

Although the game isn’t really out of beta yet I thought id talk a it about a really nice little flash game that a fellow Flash developer of mine has been working on. The flash game is called Polyn, which can be found at http://playpolyn.com/, it’s a very cute little and very much educational game, where you play as a little bee that pollinates words that you have created by clicking on different letters. But you know… It probably be best to just really break it all down, so lets get right to it!

After playing the game it seems rather clear that the purpose of this game was to help teach a much younger audience how to create words. So assuming that was the purpose I tested the game out on my 9 year old sister, things didn’t go as well as I thought they would. In the opening screen of the game you are presented with three choices for the game difficulty… That was clear enough for her, she just choice easy. But then once she got right into the game she seemed pretty lost into what she had to do.

When the game play begins you are presented with a large list of letters that you have to pick from, you are then suppose to click on a few letters until you create a word. I had to point out to her that this was indeed what you had to do. After she started creating a few more words, she began to enjoy it, but then she encountered a mistake! She was very unclear on how to remove the letter, being there was nothing clearly marked showing how to do so. I then showed her that she had to click on it to remove it, and yeah.

As all of this was happening at the top a small horizontal bar of what looked to be honey was slowly going down, so basically you were being timed to see how many words you could create with in a certain amount of time, which I thought was a nice way to progress the game. After the timer had run out she then put in her name into a score board so she could be compared against others. That was a pretty clever idea to incorporate competition into this sort of game, keeps it fun.

What I would say would probably be the best way to make these types of games very clear is to embed the tutorial into the game play, so that it teaches you how to play as you go. It may be a lot more work and effort, but this way the user doesn’t have to wave through the “how to” (most people won’t, especially with web games they just want to play, not read how to play). The first time I booted up the game the first thing I did was click “easy” and tried to start playing, clueless with in the first few seconds I immediately closed the game. So if you can make your game easier to understand right on start up then you will pull the person in a lot faster and keep their attention.

When I tried to press the “Esc” key to make an option screen pop up nothing happen. Always want to have some sort of option screen. The user needs some way of going back to the main screen, adjusting the quality, or just pausing the game. I wouldn’t say all of these are essential but it would really help to be able to go back to the main screen and change the difficulty.

As for the game play itself, I found it to be pretty fun, very relaxing and simple. Create the words, click the bee and he flies around all happy and eliminates the words I just used, it put a nice little smile on my face like I had just accomplished something. Although I did find it a bit odd when I started putting in words like “we” and it did not recognize it… But when I put in words like “mes” it did, id assume it’s because it’s all still just buggy considering it’s in beta.

The graphics are very colorful, and very appealing! Love the cheerful music to, as soon as the game started up it caught my attention! Not enough flash games have animations, it really makes things stick out! I like how the bee flies around and sparkles follow him when he pollinates the flowers and all that good stuff.

The controls were pretty responsive, and straight forward for this type of game… You just move the mouse over and click on a letter or button on the screen… Nothing really to complex, pretty to the point. Would like to point out a few bugs though… For one when I clicked on the “hard” difficulty every once in a while two bees would just show up and float around. Also after the game is over and you are asked to “pollinate again” clicking that button actually locked up both of my browsers! Latest FireFox and IE8, I am on Vista Home edition… Don’t think that matters, but that was a big one.

All and all id say the game is pretty nice! Needs a bit of work, but for a beta it’s pretty well done. This would defiantly be an excellent game for teaching young people how to create words, it really does have that sort of appeal! Really look forward to playing the final build and seeing what you come up with to further improve this already great game!